There is a striking paradox: while most Ontarians prefer to die at home, around 60% die in hospital. Only 30% of Canadians near the end of their life use palliative care services. Many experts believe that providing greater resources for palliative care does not currently appear to be an Ontario or federal government priority. Roger …
Polls suggest that health care is the most important issue to Canadians in the upcoming federal election. However, in Canada, health care delivery is largely the responsibility of the provinces and territories. The 2004 Health Accord invested $41 billion of federal dollars in health. What were the outcomes of this federal investment in health? History …
The Centre for Innovation in Complex Care hosted a debate on April 8, 2011 focused on the resolution that “the single most important step in improving hospital quality is having physicians paid and employed by hospitals.” Healthydebate.ca covered this issue on April 6, with a story on How Hospital Doctors Be Paid? At the debate, …
Doctors are a significant portion of the costs for the health care system. In 2009, almost a quarter of Ontario’s health care budget was spent on paying doctors. Most doctors who work in hospitals are not paid by the hospital directly, but by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, which pays doctors for each procedure and clinical service. …
The Ontario Health Quality council reported in 2010 that wait times for a long-term care bed in Ontario have tripled since 2005. A substantial number of people who are waiting for long-term care – and some who are currently in long-term care – could be cared for at home or in “assisted living” facilities …
About one in six beds in Ontario’s hospitals are occupied by patients who no longer need hospital care. These beds are called Alternate Level of Care (ALC) beds. Because ALC beds are not available for sick patients in the emergency department, ALC beds are an important cause of emergency department overcrowding. The term ‘gridlock’, used …